1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a blood specimen dispenser and more particularly to a blood specimen dispenser which is designed to dispense a precise amount of blood onto a spot of a filter paper or the like for the screening thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,110,567 and 5,238,655, Applicant disclosed blood collection devices which collect blood from a puncture site of a patient to enable blood of patient, such as a newborn or older child, to be screened. Applicant previously described a Quick-Spot® Dispenser for newborn and pediatric screening in a promotional publication but the dispenser thereof was not placed into commercial production.
In Applicant's prior Quick-Spot® Dispenser, the blood in the blood collection device was collected in devices in such as that of the '567 and '655 patents and was then discharged therefrom onto a spot on a filter paper or the like for later screening and/or analysis. Since the filter paper of the prior art had circular spots or areas onto which the collected blood was to be placed, it was important that a precise amount of blood be placed within the circular spot on the filtered paper. In Applicant's earlier illustrated blood specimen dispenser, the blood was discharged from the blood collection vial by means of a conventional syringe but the proper amount of blood discharged therefrom was difficult to control since the plunger of the syringe had to be precisely depressed to discharge the proper amount of blood onto the spot of the filtered paper.